benallgood

Thanks. I'll test a 12mm at the gate to see if it gives us the detail we need. I was thinking I would need at least 16mm from that distance, but then I wouldn't see the entire gate from end to end I don't think. A ptz and motion tracking would be fine, but I'd rather not go that route if I don't have to.

I'd like to get a good view of someone entering the gate during the daytime, but also what material is being loaded in the yards. Also, if someone broke in during the night, I'd like to be able to identify them. I was hoping to not resort to using a ptz, but it may be my only option if I want to see what is being loaded, especially in the yard to the back left of the buildings. Something along the lines of a Dahua SD6A230-HNI was what I was thinking.

Compare megabits to gigabits. 1000 Mbps = 1 Gbps. You could use an unmanaged switch if you like. I was suggesting a managed one because you could reboot the cams without physically touching them if they lock up or something. They're not hard at all to manage. You could even treat it as an unmanaged switch if you'd like or just get an unmanaged POE Gbps switch. If 24 ports isn't enough, then get one with the number of ports you need or use multiple switches.

I don't see a need for 3 switches in that scenario. You could get a Cisco SF300-24PP switch, and plug everything (cameras, PC, and router) into that. If your router does dhcp, you could let it assign the ip addresses to the cameras. The router may even let you assign ip reservations for everything, or you can manually assign them.

I need to decide what type of cameras to place in a couple of locations. The gate marked at 110 ft from it's red marker could get a fixed cam, but I was trying to stay with the same model of cams. I was looking at varifocal bullets or domes like the Dahua ipc-hfw2300r-z or ipc-hdbw2300r-z. Those cameras aren't going to give me facial id at the 110ft distant gate or across the yard. The areas are pretty well lit at night except for the distant yard. Any recommendations on cameras for these locations or different camera models altogether. I have to place about 32 cameras in different locations inside bay doors and around these buildings.